government that sticks a gun to its head. sorry to use gun metaphors, but basically sticks a gun to its head and says we don't trust ourselves to legislate like normal people. even presidential commissions don't work anymore. what we've got to do is give ourselves artificial deadlines and bring ourselves to the precipice, create all sorts of uncertainty, create manufactured crises because without that pressure, we can no longer be counted on to do anything that remotely redecember bem zesembl thing. >> they're going to say okay, we can't do this all right now. let's set up a process for tax reform that will resolve itself in 2013. let's set up a process for entitlement reform in 2013 and create another trigger, sequestration, kicking the can down the road. but i would say one thing. what's interesting for me here is that republicans, by and large, have won this argument. they are getting a lot of spending cuts. they will get, if they want to accept it, some social security reform in terms of decreased benefits paid. it is def